Construction of Bandai SD Gundam Aerial

Gundam is a Japanese anime series where the featuring mechas (piloted giant robots) are referred to as ‘Gundam’. The anime has been around since forever (40-50 years) and so have the plastic kits!

In the Gunpla world (all plastic kits from the Gundam Universe), the Gundams are available at different grades. In short – the more detailed and realistic the model, the more difficult it is to build and the higher the price. The following grades are available:

GRADEDESCRIPTION
SD Mini (SD – Baby Gundam)Baby versions of the normal models that are fun and quick to build. Perfect for those new to the hobby.
Entry Grade (EG)1/144 scale entry level kits that are beginner friendly.
High Grade (HG)1/144 scale, more parts and details compared with EG. This grade has the most extensive lineup.
Real Grade (RG)1/144 scale, highly detailed Gundams with richer colours, more movement, and texture giving a realistic finish.
Master Grade (MG)1/100 scale, larger scale models featuring more intricate details with greater posability.
Perfect Grade (PG)1/60 scale, the most advanced line of Gunpla offering exceptional detail and realistic articulation.

Today, we are building the baby (SD) version of the Aerial Gundam.

No painting is required. This kit comes with pre-coloured parts and stickers.
No cutters are required. You can remove the parts from the sprue by pushing/twisting them out.
No glue is required. All the parts snaps together. Since they are not glued, you can also pull them apart again if you make a mistake.
The stickers are added as you build.
This is the head complete.
The stickers adhere very well to the plastic. Sometimes it folds round the edges, as shown here. We find the best way is to first line up the sticker to the top corner, then bend and smooth it out round the edges.
All the body parts are complete. The ball joints allow the Gundam to be arranged in different poses.
The finished Gundam with its weapons.
To illustrate the scale, here is the SD Aerial Gundam with the realistic looking 1/144 scale HG Aerial Gundam.

Construction of Eduard SPAD XIII

SPAD XIII, a successful French biplane fighter aircraft of WWI, the heavier and faster improvement of SPAD VII, and also the plane that we keep mispronouncing as a potato.

Our first ever model kit was a biplane – 1/72 Stearman. During that build, we lost the canopy, the decals were tear apart, and we were completely ignorant that there was rigging involved. Armed with a few more years in model-making, we are not making the same mistakes on this 1/48 SPAD!

Included in this kit is a late version of SPAD XIII.
Being the ProfitPACK Edition (as oppose to the Weekend Edition), this Eduard kit provides four marking options, a photoetched set, and a masking sheet.
Before gluing and painting, we identified the parts that does not need to be glued to avoid any mishap.
As the parts are very small and delicate, we primed and painted them whilst they were still on the sprue.
It is a frustrating fact that you can hardly see inside the cockpit once the model is finished. And it is so much more interesting to start gluing the plane together to see what it looks. Nevertheless, we do need to start with painting inside cockpit and adding the furnitures. Otherwise, once glued you are not going to get your paint brush in there. Plus, if you left it unpainted you might see random grey patches when you look inside the cockpit.
Similarly, we painted the upper and lower plane and the fuselage before gluing. Otherwise you’ll have to paint around the support structures.
You can choose between using a decal or photoetched detail on the instruments. We chose to us the photoetched version because it was more realistic and added more depth.
The seat and seatbelts were glued into place.
Once the top of the plane was added, the exhaust pipe, Vicker machine guns, and the canopy were stuck firmly on.
The ventilation air intake panel was added and painted inline with the camouflage scheme.
The struts and control rods were added before the upper plane is glued in place. This part was much trickier than we anticipated because the struts are very thin!
If getting the struts on was difficult, adding the upper plane was a total nightmare. Getting the upper wing aligned to the struts whilst the glue slowly dries, without everything suddenly collapsing…was quite a challenge. After a lot of gluing and repainting, this is what we have!
For the rigging, we were going to use fishing line. Then a customer walked in and suggested “Why don’t you try wires?” And what a great idea that turned out to be!
We used 0.38mm piano wire. We measured the length required on the model and glued on with superglue.
Finally, we added the decals and the model is complete! Disclaimer – no canopy was lost in the making of this plane.